LOGANO WINS MONSTER ENERGY CUP RACE
Victory at Richmond follows late restart that hampers Keselowski.
Joey Logano pulled away after a restart with about 20 laps to go to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway on Sunday in Richmond, Va.
Logano, who qualified fifth but had to start 37th after making a transmission change, grabbed the lead from Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski on an earlier restart when Keselowski had to make a defensive move to keep Kyle Busch from passing him on the inside.
“I was driving my guts out out there,” Logano said. “That’s all I had. We won with a car that may not have been a winning car, so that’s something to be very proud of as a team. That means the execution was there and we were able to put ourselves in position to race there hard at the end. Brad was the fastest car. He was so fast.”
Keselowski got stuck behind some slower cars on the restart, letting Logano pull away.
“I think what we needed was about 10 more laps,” Keselowski said.
Logano then had to get around Kyle Larson and five others who stayed on the track when everyone else pitted with just over 20 laps remaining. He made quick work of that challenge and pulled away while Keselowski and Denny Hamlin dueled for the second position.
Keselowski, who had the dominant car for the second half of the race, held on for second, followed by Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kevin Harvick.
“We just didn’t have the speed that the other cars had,” Hamlin said. “We finished right where we should have.”
Pole-sitter Matt Kenseth led the first 163 laps, winning Stage 1, and raced in the top 10 all day until a flat tire with 35 laps to go.
Kyle Busch was fuming after NASCAR flagged him for a commitment line violation with 22 laps to go, dropping him to the back of the field. It was his second penalty of the day following an earlier one for speeding entering the pits. That also put him to the back of the field, and he’d finally made it back into contention when the second one ruined his day. He finished 16th.
Formula One: Valtteri Bottas claimed his first Formula One win on Sunday after holding off a late charge from Sebastian Vettel in the Russian Grand Prix.
Mercedes driver Bottas, who started third but slipstreamed into the lead off the start, finished 0.6 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Vettel. Kimi Raikkonen took third in the second Ferrari, 10.3 seconds further back.
“Took quite a while, more than 80 races,” said Bottas, who had his debut with Williams in 2013. “Worth the wait.”
Vettel, who had started on the pole, hunted Bottas down in the latter part of the race. However, he was left fuming after his hopes of passing the Finn on the last lap were dashed by having to lap the Williams of Felipe Massa. “What was that?” Vettel asked over the team radio in frustration that Massa hadn’t moved out of his way swiftly enough, though the German was in a conciliatory mood afterward.
Vettel’s second place meant the German extended his standings lead to 13 points over Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who trailed in fourth after suffering overheating trouble.
IndyCar: Simon Pagenaud appeared to be on cruise control after taking a big lead when a caution flag caught the other leaders on pit road in the Verizon IndyCar race Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway.
The Frenchman had a different view from the cockpit in Avondale, Arizona, as he closed in on his first oval victory.
“Those were the longest 50 laps of my life,” Pagenaud said. “I have a button on my wheel that tells me how many laps were left. I kept pressing it. It was stressful. The car was phenomenal.”